I'm lovin' FML

We're so hungry we're dreaming of only one thing: super-sizing it. French fries, cheeseburger, soda, and the little toy, that's what we're talking about. Morgan Spurlock sure doesn't get the meaning of fastfood, of course it's bad for our health but, seriously, who cares, it's just so good we don't want to think anymore, we just want to eat. While we're finishing our strawberry-chocolate flavored milkshake, let's interview Dean!

-Who are you?-Dean Fraser

-How old are you?-31 (ugh)

-Where do you live?-Alberta, Canada

-What do you do for a living?-Graphic Design/Artwork

-What's your story?-Not much really. I worked at a grocery store years ago and got really bored with it. I moved on from that so I could let out my creative side and do what I really enjoy, so I started doing graphic design - things like t-shirt designs for different bands and singers, logos, character artwork etc. I haven't run in to huge money from it thus far, but I'm glad to be doing what I like.

-What are your projects?-Well there is the Springfield Punx blog of course, and on my personal site I post various work I've done, and just whatever art I get inspired to do as fan art or something just for fun.

-Can you tell us about your blog/website?-The Springfield Punx blog is a lot of fun. I'm pretty big Batman fan, so a couple years ago I started drawing characters from the 60's Batman show in the Simpsons style, having seen Adam West appear as Batman on the Simpsons (fighting Krusty the clown) and really liking it. I did up Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and some villains, and put them up on my website. It was pretty fun so I tried other characters. I got some good feedback from friends and soon had a small collection up there on my website. Then one day I found that my site had gone down due to a huge amount of traffic within a couple of days. I was able to trace it back to my Simpsons characters. It was at that point that I decided to put up a dedicated blog, Springfield Punx, for these characters. I started receiving suggestions on different characters and personalities to 'Simpsonize' and whenever I thought "Yeah, that could be a fun one to do!" I tried to do it. The whole thing has just sort of snowballed from there.

-What inspires you?-Well nostalgia plays a big part in it. I really like paying tribute to the things I grew up with and things that have brought me joy, even up to today. I've always had a love of comic books, so artists like Jim Lee, Bruce Timm, Scott McDaniel and Norm Breyfogle are guys really I've admired and been inspired by. The cartoons I loved in the 80's and 90's (like TMNT, Transformers, Inspector Gadget) remain close to my heart as well. There are a number of movies that made a big impression on me (Back to the Future, for instance) and they have probably influenced the things I think about and the things I draw as well.

-What makes you laugh the most?-People. We say and do the funniest, most bizarre things. Kids especially. To me, no comedy on tv compares with the sight of my neighbor chasing her 9-year-old little brat down the street with underwear on his head.

-Why did you choose this FML?-1. It had a lot of great room for interpretation.2. I think most of us have felt a similar type of rejection at one time or another.

-Do you have your own FML anecdote that you can share us?-Recently, one of the Chicago Blackhawks players came to our area to meet people and let them take pictures with the Stanley Cup. The waiting line was insanely long and I was near the back. Just ahead of me in line was a family with a handicapped girl in a wheelchair. The idiot do-gooder in me took control and I walked up to the security guys and asked if that family could be bumped up in the line. I came back to let this family know I got them bumped up. The mom came up to me and asked "So why did you choose us?" I was far too embarrassed to give any answer seeing that I had obviously offender her and her handicapped daughter. FML.

If you want to be the next published artist, send an email to alice@fmylife.com including a link to your website/blog/DA. But DON'T send your illustration right away! You need first to get in touch with Alice who will tell you what you have to do!